The return of bird frenzy
My bird feeder has been empty since mid-February. There were problems with the house sparrows taking over and driving off (and beating up) other birds, so I decided I'd let them finish off what was there, leave it unfilled so they'd lose interest, and go get a better feeder that is harder for them to access and food that is less likely to attract them.
Except that I have been too busy and/or had the wrong financial timing to research and purchase new feeding setups. And now we're expecting to leave in less than two months and it seems silly to get a whole new setup just for that time. And I have been really missing my bird traffic. So yesterday I just filled the old feeder with cheap grocery-store food, and will simply have to keep an eye out for bad behavior from the house sparrows.
A chickadee found the refilled feeder within the first hour after I put it up.
This morning, there was practically a traffic jam of chickadees on the shed and porch roofs and the wires outside the office window, waiting for their turns to get to the feeder. There have been a few juncos as well. And a pair of house sparrows, but so far not the huge crush they had a couple of months ago. I'm thinking about ways I could modify the feeder to make it harder for them to get to. (Because house sparrows are fairly heavy and chunky, they need more space on a feeder than do the chickadees and finches. The juncos are ground feeders so it doesn't make any difference for them.)
I am kind of foolishly happy to have this activity back. The presence of the birds is really relaxing and engaging for me, something that makes day to day stresses a little easier to bear.
I still need to clean and refill the hummingbird feeder; there was some evidence of its use in early March, but it's been fallow for a few weeks, and it needed to be washed anyway. I spilled the remainder of the food all over the kitchen floor when I brought the feeder in, as well as on my ecru shirt. Great. Bright pink stains to get out of ecru fabric. I'm brilliant.
morthael has promised me that we can have multiple feeders, for different types of birds, at our new place, if the setting and circumstances warrant. I really appreciate that he's willing to indulge this.
And while it's not related, I saw the neighborhood northern flicker this morning, on the roof of the shed next door. I had heard him a couple of times over the past week or so, but this is my first visual, and I'm glad to have him back.
Except that I have been too busy and/or had the wrong financial timing to research and purchase new feeding setups. And now we're expecting to leave in less than two months and it seems silly to get a whole new setup just for that time. And I have been really missing my bird traffic. So yesterday I just filled the old feeder with cheap grocery-store food, and will simply have to keep an eye out for bad behavior from the house sparrows.
A chickadee found the refilled feeder within the first hour after I put it up.
This morning, there was practically a traffic jam of chickadees on the shed and porch roofs and the wires outside the office window, waiting for their turns to get to the feeder. There have been a few juncos as well. And a pair of house sparrows, but so far not the huge crush they had a couple of months ago. I'm thinking about ways I could modify the feeder to make it harder for them to get to. (Because house sparrows are fairly heavy and chunky, they need more space on a feeder than do the chickadees and finches. The juncos are ground feeders so it doesn't make any difference for them.)
I am kind of foolishly happy to have this activity back. The presence of the birds is really relaxing and engaging for me, something that makes day to day stresses a little easier to bear.
I still need to clean and refill the hummingbird feeder; there was some evidence of its use in early March, but it's been fallow for a few weeks, and it needed to be washed anyway. I spilled the remainder of the food all over the kitchen floor when I brought the feeder in, as well as on my ecru shirt. Great. Bright pink stains to get out of ecru fabric. I'm brilliant.
morthael has promised me that we can have multiple feeders, for different types of birds, at our new place, if the setting and circumstances warrant. I really appreciate that he's willing to indulge this.
And while it's not related, I saw the neighborhood northern flicker this morning, on the roof of the shed next door. I had heard him a couple of times over the past week or so, but this is my first visual, and I'm glad to have him back.